C-Brats Table at the Boatshow

Thanks for all of your help everybody. I am getting more excited about this concept as it, in my mind anyways, will be the start of a new relationship between builder and 'Brats. Can somebody put under event sign ups a Cdory Table sign up, as I cannot seem to find anywhere that will let me do that. From that list I will set up a time frame and post it. Pat thanks for your help, the collage was what I was looking for.

Again thanks all and lets make this SBS11 one of the best yet.

Scott
 
Scott,

Event announcements must be posted by an administrator. Send a PM (Private Message) or email to Tyboo or Da Nag. They can post the boat show table signup in Event Signups.
 
Looked for the table, the twins and Scott. All no shows at the show. Hmmm, I took a shower, and put on deodorant. Wore the name tag, talked to a ton of folks about C-Dorys, (2 who were actually there looking for them) and passed out some cards. Did see Pats collage on the rather lonesome looking C-Dory and the very bored looking Master marine guy, who looked like he would rather have been anywhere else.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Someone needs to put up a iMac Cinema display showing a Keynote presentation of all the photos out here. That will overcome the lonely C-Dory at the show.
 
hardee":3697dtrw said:
Did see Pats collage on the rather lonesome looking C-Dory and the very bored looking Master marine guy, who looked like he would rather have been anywhere else.
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I just got home from the show and I'm actually rather pissed at that "bored looking Master Marine guy". He was leaning against the engine at the stern of the 22, wouldn't move, so I walked around to find the steps into the boat. He wouldn't even look at me - spent the 10+ minutes I was there yacking to some other sales guy about how the boat industry lags the RV industry, the RV industry is coming back, and he thinks the boat industry should be back in about 6 months. I'd rather chew glass than give this guy any business. He was in the same position when I walked back by a half hour later - what a waste.

But it's not all his fault. I agree the gray stripe is not eye catching, but the folks who staged that boat couldn't have done a worse job if they'd tried. The literature taped to the boat had the old 253 phone numbers - there were no brochures, price lists, anything to take away.

And the boat itself was dark and didn't have a single item that it didn't roll out of the factory with. I think it was the only boat with a cabin at the boat show that did not have interior lights on. It was depressing as hell.

A huge contrast to the Ranger booth. Every boat was brightly lit and fully kitted out with kayaks and bikes on racks, tables set, burgees, and so on. And every boat was crawling with COUPLES - the women were as animated as the men.

Oh, and note that the Ranger booth featured an old canoe-stern tug that won some award in 2004, so that excuse about only having new factory boats appears bogus to me.

If that's the best they can do, then they shouldn't have bothered.
 
chromer":1bnpc5lo said:
Someone needs to put up a iMac Cinema display showing a Keynote presentation of all the photos out here. That will overcome the lonely C-Dory at the show.
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The key word in that statement is: someone. Reading the last few posts here and on other threads, that dealer and the factory deserve the lack of sales. The Brats have offered suggestions, offered their time, and Pat paid for photo collage after taking his time to make it up, and many Brats' time to have posted images in the first place. The "someone" who should be doing "something" would be the factory and the local dealers. No shows and no cares.

Talk about missed opportunities. :cry: If this is their effort to "make this SBS11 one of the best yet," they have missed the boat. (pun intended).

We have great boats, enthusiastic owners, and an outstanding owners group in this forum. Try as we might, we can't make someone else care about the boats and their future production as much as we do.

The problem isn't the classic styling of the boats, it's the lack of passion for marketing the boats. All the suggestions that have been offered here over the years have been largely ignored. The "Barber chair" is the one exception, and that was a no-brainer. There could have been evolutionary changes to continue to improve the boat and keep them viable. There could have been a friendly exchange between the factory folks and the owners... goodness knows the folks on this forum have extended their hand time after time.

Thanks for the slap upside the head. The dealers who still want to sell these boats have my sympathies; I've seen the posts about non-communication and felt for their plight.

Sound 5 blasts.

On the bright side, none of this changes the joy I feel every time I step onboard Wild Blue.

Jim B.
 
Well, I don't know what happened from the factory side of things but until I walk a mile in their shoes....

My point is that there could be many reasons for what happened. The current Triton operation is quite small and there's really only two guys who could have been involved in marketing at the boat show - Jeff and Scott. Sudden illness, a loss in the family, unexpected financial issues, etc could have resulted in some other disaster that needed to be handled. As I said, I don't know. But I do know I'm glad I'm not in the boat building business right now and I still wish these guys well.
 
In the factorys defense, take a look at the sign up list. I would have been hard pressed to make up a schedule when there were only four or five who offered time.

the factory asked for a sign up sheet and DaNag was quick to make that happen. it was up to us to put our name on that list.,IMHO there were not enough people to make it work
 
For those of you who didn't make it to the show, here's the CD 22 in the Master Marine booth:
sbscd22.jpg

You can even see the Master Marine guy leaning on the outboard and blocking that entrance - the only other way in is arond the bow between the plants.

Also, for all that I've heard about the fit & finish of the new boats, here's shot of the coachroof trim (on the aisle, right at eye level at the SBS):
cd22trim.jpg
 
centerisland said:
The literature taped to the boat had the old 253 phone numbers - there were no brochures, price lists, anything to take away.

Unfortunately, that's the only literature that exists right now. We have a dozen or so brochures left from the Fluid days, but that's about it. We do still have a number of the individual pages on the various models, and we will be using that. Although there appear to have been changes to some of the listed options. (the 22 Cruiser at the show had the trim tab option, but no indicator gauge).

I have created for our use some individual sheets for each model showing our MSRP pricing for the boats, options, and some common dealer installed options. I use these when talking with potential buyers and can send them via e-mail as PDF files.
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dotnmarty said:
I'm a little surprised they didn't leave the boat on the trailer, since trailerability is an important selling point.

It probably didn't fit and I think they're paying between $6 and $8/sq.ft. for the show.
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We too were disappointed in the lackluster display and apparent support. The factory seemed interested and even excited about the prospect of having brats there as true-to-life marketers. I'm not sure what happened to make them invisible. In a way I'm glad the table didn't pan out as I would have been uncomfortable recommending master marine to potential buyers and that would have been awkward. I recall that many more people said they would be happy to participate on this thread than actually signed up. Not sure what that means. I e-mailed the factory saying I would be available whenever they needed me but no answer. It is worrisome but I'm hopeful that the factory will give us a little info.
 
I think part of the issue was that the sign up sheet didn't indicate a time - e.g. I could have committed to a very specific time but I couldn't commit in general. So I didn't sign up. We probably could have done a better job by keeping the sign up within a specific thread so that we could better organize timing. Regardless, I think that next year we might look into having a C-Brat table on our own. If nothing else, it would provide a place for brats to congregate at the show.
 
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